"It's nice having five rookies and there are two really interesting ones to watch," Edwards explains. "Bottas has had an enmeshed relationship with Williams for several years.

Formula 1 2013 in numbers

• 22 drivers, 10 nationalities

• 5 world champions, 5 rookies

• 11 teams on the grid

• 36,000 Pirelli tyres supplied

• Drivers will race a maximum of 1,131 laps this season

• Cars will clock up a maximum of 3,600 race miles

• Estimated prize money for the champions $100m

"He is totally in the zone and the team respect him very highly. He's going to be able to hit the ground running and I really think he will be scoring points early on in his career.

"Bianchi is also potentially a bit of a star because of the backing he's had from Ferrari and the amount of testing he's done for Force India."

The drivers may get the chance to flex their racing muscles even more in 2013 as apart from minor tweaks - to front wings and a new limit on the use of the moveable rear wings (DRS), for example - there are no major technical rule changes to shake up the grid.

When the rules are stable it is, in theory, easier for teams to close the gap as they fine-tune their cars, although it also means those at the top of the tree tend to stay there.

Edwards explains: "Red Bull are favourites - even though winning four championships on the trot is incredibly difficult - because they know what works with these current regulations."

The new Pirelli tyres will once again be the biggest unknown - although the teams had a chance to get to grips with them, albeit in lower temperatures, during pre-season testing.

The tyre supplier is expecting lower lap times and more pit stops in 2013.

"The cars this year were 1.9 seconds quicker than they were in testing this time last year," says Anderson. "And they were even faster than pole position for the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

"Some of that has come from the car and some from the tyres. This year's tyres appear to be easier to get working on the first lap.

"It does look like the tyres are more consistently deteriorating and it looks like there will be more pit stops, or as many, as last year."

As pit-stops and points tot up, times and statistics are squeezed, there is just one figure that really counts in F1's numbers game - being number one.